An Open Letter to CAL

I'm sorry to do this, but I have to express my displeasure with the way in which I was treated on flight 1145 from MDW to EWR this morning. I was sitting in seat 1B, a bulkhead seat. I was on a phone call and chose not to board right away when first class was called, but about midway through the boarding process so I was not rude to anyone by being on the phone while getting on the plane and getting situated. The flight was fairly full, but not completely full. I had one carry-on, the same Travelpro computer bag I always carry with me. When I got on the aircraft, they were turning away rollaboard suitcases as I have often seen in the past. As I get myself settled at the seat, I go to put my bag in the overhead bin, but everything is completely fully in my area since someone who is sitting much further back in the aircraft has just put their rollaboard and small duffel bag in the last remaining space in the first class overhead bins. Yes, if I had boarded the aircraft earlier I could have used this space, but I chose not to. Putting my back under the seat in front of me is not an option since I am in a bulkhead seat with a small cubby cut out for more leg room (thank you for that by the way), but clearly marked "No Stowage".

I asked the Flight Attendant if the bag (again, a small computer bag) could be placed in the closet for take off and landing and was quickly told no. She made a cursory search and said that my bag would have to be checked. I was not happy about this, considering it is my ONLY carry on bag and has items in it such as medicine, work identification, keys, my passport and travel documents in it, not to mention the computer, but if there is no space, there is no space. I was told by the gate agent that this was my only option, and she started to take the bag from me. I told her I'm sorry, but I have to take a few items out of my bag before she could take it. I was going through the bag, not really wasting any time, and about 20 seconds later I was told that she had to take the bag at that time. I again said i just need a minute more to make sure that everything I needed that was valuable was out of the bag. She responded with "Well you're just going to have to go on the next flight because I have to close the door now." We were not past our departure time. If she had taken me off the flight, did she really think that would help get the flight off on time? I can assure you if that happened, that would have been the last Continental flight I would have flown. I finished going through my bag within the next 30 seconds and my bag was snatched from me and the door remained open for at least another minute or two. As it turns out, I realized after my briefcase was gone that I left my keys in it. I also now have to carry all of these items loose to baggage claim to get my bag since this was my ONLY carry-on.

I have feared that this very thing would happen to me for some time now. I do not know that this is what happened in this case, but something I have seen before is the flight crew puts their bags in the overheads right at the front of the plane at the bulkheads because it is convenient for them to get at. Unfortunately, passengers seated at the bulkheads are unable to put anything under the seat in front of them, so they are the ones who need that overhead space the most. The other culprit here is people bringing several carry-on's. I'm not going to say that I've never had more than the allowed carry-on bags, but that's only been a handful of times. In the winter time when you have someone with three carry-on bags plus putting their jacket in the overhead bins, it's no wonder how the bins get so full so fast.

Not once through this whole process was I rude or combative in anyway. I have been flying 100+ flights a year for over 10 years and roll with the punches fairly well. I don't think that it's right to have been threatened with being removed from the flight because I took a minute to take out items which I could not have gotten by with out. On the whole, your airline does things right, and much better than the others. I have flown as an elite member on other airlines when I lived in different cities, and Continental generally has the best service hands down, which is why I was so surprised at this situation. Ironically, of all the flights I have taken on your airline and all of the situations I have been in, I believe that I have only written one other time, and that was also regarding a flight out of MDW and exemplary service shown by the flight and ground crew.